Stay With Me...

Chapter 8

So as I sit here. Completely blown away by all of the breathtaking images that he has painted. I begin to ask questions. How? When? Why? But I already know who. These are paintings of me. Of Prim. Of the meadow. And of... children. There are children dancing in the meadow. A girl with dark hair and blue eyes. And a little chubby boy with blonde, curly hair and grey eyes. I place my hand gently into the painting and run my fingers down it.

"So I see you've found my art room." He smirks. He walks towards the painting I was looking at. His face turns red and his smile turns into a frown. "Y-you weren't supposed to see that." I turn back to look at it and soon become embarrassed. I feel my face become red as well.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. I'll go." I stutter. He reaches for my shoulder.

"No Katniss it's ok. Really. There shouldn't be anything in here that you aren't allowed to see. Trust me. It is just a painting. Nothing more, nothing less." He says as he takes it off of the easel. He tucks it behind a dresser and claps his hands together.

"There. Gone. Never going to see it again." He looks at me with a worried look. I must look scared or something because he then asks me what's wrong.

"Nothing. It's just..." I stop.

"Katniss tell me please." He walks towards me and grabs my hand.

"It's just, I don't want you to be with me. You want children so badly and I don't ever want to have any. I want you to be happy Peeta. I don't want to hold you back from a life you could be living." He looks me in my eyes.

"Katniss. I'm happy where I am. I love you. And it doesn't hurt me at all if you don't want to have children. I want you Katniss. As long as I'm with you, I will always be happy." I feel my face become red once again.

How could I ever deserve him? I don't deserve him. He needs someone who isn't broken and scarred. I feel a tear slip down my face so I turn to the ground. He pulls me in for a hug and we stay there for what seems like forever. When we break I take a big sigh in and slowly let it out. Then we walk side by side out of the room. Closing and locking the door behind us. We walk down to the kitchen and I sit down at the island. Peeta grabs some random ingredients and a couple of mixing bowls and begins to put something together. We hold a long conversation about what needs to be improved in district 12 and we eat the cheese buns that Peeta made out of scratch.

He claps the flour off of his hands and smiles.

"So what are your plans for the day?"

"I'm not sure. I think I'm just going to go check up on Haymitch."

"Oh...yeah." He looks away.

"But now that I think about it, I just checked up on him. He's probably just passed out anyways. There's no point in going. So... I'm not doing anything. You?" I say with a smirk. He looks up and smiles.

"Well. I mean, if you don't have anything, I was thinking about going and hanging out down in the meadow. There is kind of something I want to show you." He says with a laugh. "Would you like to come my lady." He bows down in front of me with his hand reaching out.

"Well, I would be honored to." I say grabbing his hand. He pulls me out of my chair and takes me into the living room. He swirls me in a circle and catches me in his arms. It was almost perfect until he tripped on the rug and we fell onto the couch. Our laughter fills the room and we lay their for a good 5 minutes.

I take a sigh and turn my head to his. I look into his blue eyes. They sparkle like the ocean and they brighten up the room. He slowly waves his hand in front of my face.

"Katniss." I snap back into reality.

"Yeah." I laugh.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok. I'm just going to go get ready. I'll be back in just a minute." I pat his lap and run upstairs.

I quickly throw on a yellow t-shirt and some jean capris. I put on the necklace that has the pearl Peeta gave me and I re-braid my hair. Then I run downstairs and met up with Peeta at the front door. We take each other's hands and we begin our journey to the meadow.

"So what's the surprise?" I ask, hopefully catching him off guard. He turns and looks at me.

"Ok Katniss. The point of a secret is you can't tell. Do you understand? Or should I go find the real definition." He says sarcastically. I roll my eyes and playfully punch him in the arm.

"I know. I know. But you also know how much I hate surprises or secrets. I was trying to see if I could get you to spill."

"Yeah, well I'm not that gullible you know."

"You sure?"

"No...but. Ok let's not talk about how dumb I am. You wanna race?"

"No not rea..." he stops me before I finish.

"That was a rhetorical question." He starts to sprint down the path. I run with all that my legs will give me and finally catch up to him. He comes to a fast stop. Then he tells me to turn around. So I do.

"Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess." I say with a unsure laugh.

"Ok then. Turn around." I slowly turn around and look up.

My mouth drops. My eyes begin to water, and I am speechless. I can't take my eyes off of it. I don't know how to describe it. I have mixed emotions about it. I'm happy, excited, confused, mad, and sad all at the same time. I turn to see Peeta with the biggest smile on his face.

"It's, beautiful." I stutter. I feel the tears come falling down my face. He steps forward and wraps his arms around me. I just lay my head against his chest and cry. I cry with happiness, and hatred.

But mostly love.

I cry because of the love I have for Peeta Mellark.